The Second Boy Who Lived
by kalanthia
Summary: While Voldemort and Harry meet for their final fight, Bellatrix gives birth to a boy, who after her death is raised by Hermione & Ron. 12 years later: Young Sirius Weasley starts his 1st year at Hogwarts, not knowing that he is the second Boy Who Lived.
1. Chapter 1

**Prelude**

A sharp pain ripped through her body. "The time has come, my Lord," Bellatrix whispered, clutching her belly.

Voldemort turned around, scrutinising her. "You are excused from the fight. I'll see you when Potter is dead."

These were the last word her master and lover ever spoke to her.

She walked away from where the Dark Lord was waiting for Potter's arrival in the Forbidden Forrest. Occasionally she had to support herself on a tree branch when the cramps nearly forced her down on her knees.

The contractions were coming faster now.

She lay down on the mossy underground, casting a spell to sterilise the floor. She hoped that she was away far enough so her screams would be overheard by no-one.

The baby was a boy. Pale and smeared with blood. His eyes were of a dark brown like her own. His hair was black like his father's had been over a decade ago.

Bellatrix had been scared at first because the baby didn't make a sound. But when it screamed, forcing air into his tiny lungs, she sobbed with joy and relief.

She was weak, and she hated to be weak. She should be up at the castle, fighting among the other Death Eaters. It was her duty to do so.

Pain shot up through her abdomen when she pulled herself upright and staggered the first steps, the baby wrapped in one of her black underskirts, held tightly to her breast.

She hid the baby behind an overturned cupboard near the entrance of the Great Hall. Inside the Great Hall the fight was in full progress. Everyone fought for their lives. Spells filled the air, hitting their aim deadly or bouncing off the walls.

The baby would be safe here.

She had not yet had the chance to even think about a name for the boy. She had not yet been able to feed him for the first time. All of these things would have to wait till after the fight.

_Stop being sentimental! Your duty is to fight!_

If just the pain would go away...

Bellatrix could barely stand upright by now, but still she tried. _I need to be strong for him._ Then a realisation began to dawn on her. _I__ need to be strong for both of them. His child needs me._

She was trying to catch her breath, leaning against a soot-smeared column. A red-haired girl ran past her, no doubt the Weasley girl.

Bella raised her wand.

The girl ducked away from her first spell. They duelled.

Bella felt blood running down her thighs, down her calves, soaking her stockings. It felt like someone had used a Cruciatus curse on her belly. The pain just wouldn't go away.

Her deflecting spells came too slowly, she stumbled, got nearly hit by a curse.

All of a sudden Mrs Weasley stood between her daughter and Bellatrix.

"Not my daughter, you bitch!"

The pain exploded inside her body, spread trough her limbs. Her feet were taken off the ground.

_I'm floating. I'm floating to you, my love._

The pain was gone.

**After the Fight**

Hogwarts looked no longer like Hogwarts. It looked like Armageddon had dawned on this place. Some people were extinguishing little fires, some carried liveless bodies into the ruins of the Great Hall.

People were mourning and crying everywhere.

Harry let his tears run freely. If he'd touch his face now, he would only smear dirt into the scratches and his wounds would burn a little more.

He fell more than he actually sat down next to the Weasley family who were gathered around their dead son and brother Fred. Ginny moved to his side. He found the strength to put his arm around her shoulders and she cried against his chest.

Some time later, when he looked up, he saw Hermione and Ron sitting just like him and Ginny, and in the back of the Great Hall, the Malfoy family, somehow lost and at the same time grateful that they had survived.

He realised that _he_, Harry Potter, also had _survived_.

Unimaginable things were happening. Draco could no longer stand to be hugged by his crying parents. He could not even by glad that he was still alive. He felt that he would have deserved to die.

His eyes fell on Neville and Luna, both trying to rescue a body from under the stones of a collapsed column. He shook off his parents' hands and walked over to them.

Neville glared at him. Luna was just exhausted and didn't care why he wanted to help.

"Can you lift that stone?" She pointed at a larger one.

Draco nodded and lifted the stone, pushing it aside.

Luna whimpered and started to sob the name of the dead girl, pressing her hands on her mouth.

Neville started giving instructions how Draco was supposed to lift the body. He did what he was told. He had always been good at following instructions, he thought bitterly.

The little boy sreamed, out-raged and frightened. He had been left by his mother. He was hungry. He was cold. He screamed even louder, because he was just a baby, and all that a baby could do was scream.

"There's a baby crying." Molly Weasley pulled away from her grieving husband's arms.

Her children - her children who were still alive - and Harry and Hermione looked at her.

"Listen! It's crying again!" She started to walk in that direction.

Arthur asked: "A baby? Must be someone, but a baby?"

"Maybe someone who's been unconscious till now..." Ron got up and followed his mother. Hermione followed too. "How should a baby have come here?"

Molly turned around, slowing down for the moment. "I know when I hear a baby!"

The three of them followed Molly to the entrance of the Great Hall, climbing over stuff that blocked their way. In a corner of the entrance hall was a broken cupboard. Mrs Weasley walked towards it.

Too small for a grown person to be lying behind it, even too small for a child.

The screaming echoed from the walls.

Molly ran the last few steps. "I told you it's a baby!" She kneeled down and picked up the black bundle of cloth and the newborn inside it. The baby still cried on top of its lungs. "Shhhh, shhh, my love..." She started to cradle it in her arms.

"Merlin's beard...," muttered Arthur. "It's only hours old."

"There were no pregnant women in the Order, right?" Hermione was wondering.

"No, there weren't," confirmed Arthur.

"But whose baby is it?" Ron looked confused. "Don't tell me it's a Death Eater baby!"

Mrs Weasley had ordered Percy, Ginny and Harry to take George and his dead twin brother home to the Burrow. Bill and Fleur accompanied the bodies of Remus and Tonks. They disapparated.

Molly asked Neville and Luna if they had seen any dead woman who looked like she could have been pregnant. They shook their heads.

The news that a baby had been found spread in minutes.

Draco offered to ask his mother if she knew about pregnancy among the female Death Eaters. Molly looked at him for some seconds - how could he dare speak to her - but then she thought of the baby. "Go ask your mother, boy."

Draco came back none the wiser.

Meanwhile Molly cleaned the baby - she knew the right spells - and found out that the newborn was a boy. She then handed the baby to Hermione, because she wanted to take a closer look at some of the dead Death Eater women.

Hermione produced a bottle from her handbag that could be used as a baby bottle. Aberforth brought some fresh, warm milk from one of his goats and Hermione now was feeding the baby who was drinking greedily. Ron watched her and the baby with a strange look on his face.

Hours later the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione and the baby were in the Burrow's kitchen. Hermione held the sleeping baby in her arms and was humming a lullaby.

Molly arrived last.

Among all the Death Eater women who had still been identifiable none seemed to have been pregnant. Narcissa Malfoy had joined her in the search, looking for her missing sister Bellatrix. Of course Molly knew where Bellatrix's body was.

There had been some tough moments when Molly confessed having killed Bellatrix to save her own daughter's life.

Narcissa did not even look shocked. "So she got what she deserved. She was my sister, but she didn't care at all when she offered my son to the Dark Lord..."

Molly and Narcissa pulled Bellatrix out from under a stone pile. Narcissa started to cry when she saw the blood-soaked skirts of her dead sister.

"Not my daughter, you bitch...", mumbled Molly and then couldn't help crying.

Lucius, who had lingered closeby, said he would take his wife and her dead sister home.

That having happened, Molly returned to her home and her family.

No-one really knew what to say after she had finished the story.

Now they knew who the boy's mother was.

They couldn't be completely sure about the father, but all of them had a pretty good idea.

"The child's got nothing to do with the crimes of his parents," Harry said after a very long period of silence. "We can't put him in an orphanage..." He was looking at Mrs Weasley for support. "I mean, we all know what that did to his father..."

Molly wondered if Harry now would volunteer to take care of his deadly enemy's baby. What a brave young man Harry had become. "The boy can stay here in the Burrow, Harry. You are already Teddy's godfather..." She interrupted herself when she realised that Harry had not yet thought of that.

"Ron and I will take care of the boy," said Hermione.

"We will?" Ron looked at her bewildered.

Hermione blushed. "One child or two, where's the difference?" she asked timidly.

Ron's mouth fell open. "A-are you saying..."

"Yes, Ron. I'm pregnant."

It sounded like Ron was laughing and crying at the same time. Then he threw his arms around Hermione and hugged her.

"I've wanted to tell you, Ron, but..." Tears started to well up in Hermione's already puffy eyes. "B-but with all this... mess..." She sobbed. "It just didn't seem right to be happy."

**Interlude**

The black underskirt in which the baby had been wrapped had indeed belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange. Narcissa Malfoy had later helped to identify her sister's garment. She also had known about Bellatrix and the Dark Lord, but she had not known about the pregnancy.

Narcissa offered to take care of her sister's baby, but by then Hermione and Ron had completely fallen in love with the innocent child who knew nothing about the crimes of his parents.

Narcissa and Lucius seemed relieved they wouldn't have to take care of their former master's offspring.

They discussed what name the child should have.

Tom? Thomas? Like the father? They decided against it.

It was Hermione who came up with Sirius.

After all, Sirius Black had been the only relative of Bellatrix they had liked. A kind of compensation that the boy's mother had killed her own cousin. And a way to honour the memory of a man who had been so unlike his family.

A good omen that the boy would grow up to be the opposite of his biological parents.


	2. Chapter 2

**Twelve**** Years Later**

**Platform 9 3/4**

Draco Malfoy took a long, deep breath and told himself to be calm. His daughter was about to start her first journey to Hogwarts School of Magic; she wasn't going away forever. She'd be home again for Christmas. But still he couldn't help missing her already.

"Love, some help with the luggage would be nice!" his wife Marianna called from the other side of the car.

Twelve years earlier, even after the war and all what Voldemort had done to his family, Draco would have never believed if anyone had told him he would fall in love with a Muggle. But that was exactly what had happened.

After Voldemort was gone, Draco had endured two weeks of interrogations by the Ministry. When the message arrived that Harry Potter had personally testified that the Malfoys had been fighting alongside the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army, that they had been cleared of all charges, that none of them would be sent to Azkaban -

Even more astonishingly, Draco had not even been accused of assisting to the murder of Albus Dumbledore - Harry Potter had declared that Dumbledore himself had ordered Snape to kill him, so Snape could continue to spy on Voldemeort and protect the children in Hogwarts.

Back then, Draco had simply grabbed some clothes, some food, his traveling cloak and went abroad. He didn't have a wand and he didn't have much Muggle money, so one day he ended up completely broke on a sidewalk in Spain.

That's where he had fallen in love with Marianna who had been kind to a stranger, just because she felt sorry for him, because he looked so desperate and lost. Sitting on her kitchen table, crying, he had told her everything that had happened. She never thought that he was crazy, talking about wizard wars, magic and killing each other. She saw right into his heart, saw how deeply sorry he was, how desperately he was searching for forgiveness. She wasn't the one who could grant him this foregiveness, but she had believed in him and from that moment on never stopped believing in him.

It was her love that made it possible for him to face his past, return to the UK, and ask the right persons for foregiveness.

"Gimme a second." Draco made sure that his father Lucius was able to get out of the car safely and not being run over by another car in the mad traffic around King's Cross, then he assisted his wife with their daughter's trunk.

Little Lucinda proudly carried her owl cage on her own, beaming all over her face, her blond pigtails bouncing.

"Can I go ahead and take a look with Grandpa? Mommy?" Lucinda extended a hand to her grandfather. "Please, please, please, please!"

"Alright, darling. But stay with your grandfather!"

Draco and Marianna exchanged a smile while they put the trunk on a trolly and locked up the car.

Draco watched his father walking slowly with the help of his cane. Lucius Malfoy had never been the same since his wife Narcissa had passed away earlier this year. Only his granddaughters sometimes seemed to be able to cheer him up. The younger one, four-year-old Alexandra, was at home with her babysitter.

"Okay, where do we have to go now?" Marianna beamed. "Oh, I'm so exited our girl's leaving for school! She looks so cute in her uniform!"

"This way." Draco led his wife to the platform between the tracks no. 9 and no. 10. Other wizarding families were busy with their own children, but some people waved when the recognised Draco and Marianna.

Lucius had made Lucinda wait for her parents, so the girl could walk trough the secret passage in the brick wall with her father. Marianna clapped her hands exitedly after they had vanished.

The gentleman he was, Lucius offered her his arm and together they entered the magical world of platform 9 3/4.

Lucinda had already spied some children she knew, the Potters, the Longbottoms and quite a few Weasleys.

"You must have been such a cute boy when you came here first." Marianna told Draco.

"Nah... I was a total git." Draco felt some remorse. The guilt was never far away, but being with Marianna made it bearable.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the feedback!**

**I'll continue to publish chapters whenever I've had time to write. I don't know yet where the story will head to in the end, but the next few chapters already in exist drafts.**

**Saying Good-Bye**

"Potter." Draco made his voice sound harsh.

Harry turned around. "Malfoy. So we meet again."

Suddenly both of them laughed and then shook hands.

"Good to see you, Draco. Hello, Marianna." Harry exchanged greetings with Draco's wife. Ginny and Marianna hugged.

"Oh, you look fantastic!" Marianna told Hermione who just arrived with Ron.

Hermione put a hand on her obviously pregnant belly. "Thanks. And thank Merlin, I'm not puking my guts out this time," she added in a whisper so the children wouldn't hear it. "One horrible pregnancy is so enough for me; I'd like to enjoy this one."

"So you _are_ trying to overtake us, Ron!" joked his brother Bill. His and Fleur's youngest, Louis, sat on his father's shoulders, curiously looking everywhere. Their middle child, Dominique, was starting school this year, and their eldest, Victoire, was in the third year like Harry's godson Teddy, her boyfriend. Having inherited his birth mother Tonk's ability to change his appearance at will, Teddy today had tomato red hair with golden highlights, because he was proud to be a Gryffindor.

Besides Lucinda and Dominique, Harry and Ginny's son James, and Ron and Hermione's daughter Rose and their adopted son Sirius were among the new first-year students of Hogwarts. They were joined by Percy and Audrey's boy Freddie, and Neville and Luna's twins, Xena and Philia.

"See you at Christmas!", Albus said to his parents Harry and Ginny, hugged them, then hurried off to some of his friends. He was in second year.

"Can we now pleeeease get on the train?" shouted Sirius. All this stupid hugging! That made him totally look uncool.

"Yeah, we wanna go!" insisted his six months younger sister Rose.

Rose didn't mind being hugged by her parents, but she wanted to finally be on the train with all her friends.

Now James demanded: "I wanna go, too!" He sloppily hugged Harry and Ginny, his younger sister Lily, then grabbed his owl cage and ran off to where Victoire and Teddy were snogging.

"The two of you so need to stop this!"

"He's jealous!" mumbled Victoire against Teddy's lips.

"Hell no! Snogging is _so_ disgusting!" James shuddered as he climbed onto the train.

"Look at them, running around on their own; they do not even want to be hugged anymore!" Ginny said this like she considered it to be cute.

"We officially became uncool today," answered her husband Harry, kissing her on the cheek.

Lucinda hugged Draco and he helped her to get her trunk and owl in the train. Then she hugged her grandpa and her mother, promised to be a good girl and to send at least one letter per week.

Steam poured onto the platform and noise filled the air as the bright red train started to move.

The parents waved their good-byes until the train was out of sight.

"Quidditch player of the year, congratulations, man!" Draco slapped Ron's back.

Ron beamed, then tried to be modest. "You're not doing badly either. St Mungo's new Head of Department of Magical Unjuries! Who'd have ever thought you'd become a healer!"

"Not me!" Draco laughed. "So, Hermione, a little baby break in your running towards becoming the next Minister of Magic?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, thanks. Running a household and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is all I want to do right now. I'm fine where I am."

"But then you're using the break to write another book?" Ginny guessed. The Hermione-Granger-Weasley books on Wizard-Muggle-relations were famous.

Hermione refused to say anything, but behind her back Ron nodded proudly.

"Who wants to have lunch before Luna and I need to leave for Hogwarts?" Neville asked. Neville had succeeded Professor Sprout as Herbology teacher two years ago and his wife Luna was about to begin her first year as Divination teacher since Sibyl Trewlaney had retired during the summer. They were going to travel via Floo Network in the afternoon.

Everyone agreed and the small group left for the Leaky Cauldron where the entry to Diagon Alley was.

**On the Train**

"Oi!" Freddie shouted. "I got us a compartment on our own!"

"Yes!"

"Strike!"

James and Sirius collided, both trying to squeeze through the door before their friend.

"Boys..." Dominique rolled her eyes because of her cousins. "So, what house do you wanna be in?"

"Gryffindor!" shouted Xena and Philia.

"Slytherin!" piped Lucinda.

"No, Gryffindor!" insisted James and Freddie.

Sirius answered last. "I don't care. As long as you guys are in the same house, I guess it'll be okay." A grin cracked up his face. "Though it could be fun beating your arses in Quidditch!"

"Ha!" His sister Rose laughed. "Maybe the two of us will end up in different houses and I'll be the one to beat your sorry arse!"

The children joked and laughed, bragged about their new pets – owls and bats and toads and rats – until the old lady with the sweets trolley arrived.

The compartment fell silent except the "Hmm"s and "Yummy"s and the crackling sounds of wrapping paper.

"Oh, great..." muttered Sirius. "I can't even get rid of Dad!" He showed his Chocolate Frog card to the others. Ever since the cards had started to show portraits of famous Quidditch players, he had been haunted by his father.

"I'll take your dad," offered Freddie. "You can have my Krum card."

"Great! Thanks, mate."

Sirius took the card, remembering Victor Krum's last visit to his parents' house. His wife Alina and their daughter Vicky had accompanied him as usually. Rose, Sirius and Vicky, who had known each other from a very young age onwards, had been playing cards. A little accident while playing Exploding Snap had caused Vicky's eyebrows to burn off. She wasn't injured, but she glared at Sirius for the rest of the afternoon and didn't want to accept his apology.

At night Rose snuck into Sirius' room to tease him about Vicky. She even sang: "You la-la-la-la-like her!"

Hermione and Ron grounded Sirius for one week and Sirius used the time to write a letter to Vicky. Things were looking brighter again when her answer arrived. And even brighter when Uncle Harry came for a visit and told him stories about his namesake Sirius Black. He must have heard all the stories about a hundred times, but he still loved to hear them.

Some first year children were already waiting in the entrance hall when the children from the Hogwarts Express arrived. They were the offspring of the teachers and those whose parents lived in Hogsmeade.

Sirius knew some of the faces, like Ravena Cho, Martin Macmillan, Christy Jordan and – towering above all the other children his age – Albert Hagrid, one quarter Giant and son of Hogwarts groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid who had escorted the first years from the train station to the castle.

Most important among all the waiting children: Vicky Krum. Her father had successfully applied for the job of the Flying teacher and Quidditch referee for Hogwarts after ending his career four years ago. Alina's book shop was in Hogsmead anyway, so the family didn't even have to move. But like all the other new pupils Vicky today would move into one of the first year dormitories of Hogwarts.

Sirius slowly pushed his way through the small crowd till he was next to Vicky. She smiled at him and played with her long, chocolate brown hair. Her eyebrows had grown back nicely.

"Hey, Weasley." she said.

"Hey, Krum." he said, biting the insides of his cheeks in order not to grin like a moron.

Seconds later Professor Flitwick ordered the children to form pairs and then follow him into the Great Hall.

**The Sorting**

Roaring applause welcomed them into the Great Hall. Sirius had seen pictures of this place, magically moving pictures, but to be here in person – that was real magic.

Above their heads floated thousands of enchanted candles as if they were hanging between the stars of the night sky. The house ghosts hovered above the tables, the Bloody Baron, the Grey Lady, Nearly Headless Nick, the Fat Friar and Peeves.

Vicky gave Sirius a little push to show him where her father was sitting, waving like some of the other teachers who had children among the new arrivals.

"Weasley! Weasley! Weasley!" shouted a dozen of red-haired boys and girls when the group passed the Gryffindor table. Sirius grinned at his cousins Victoire Weasley and Albus Potter.

Flitwick led the children to some benches in front of the teachers' platform. The Sorting Hat sat on his stool, waiting for them.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" whispered Vicky.

"Don't know."

Vicky leaned closer to him. "I think I might be in Slytherin."

"Why Slytherin?" Sirius had never really thought about ending up in Slytherin. It still wasn't one of the popular houses. And the chances of becoming a Slytherin were one to three. In other words: it was more likely to end up in one of the other houses.

"Because my dad went to Durmstrang," Vicky continued, "I guess that could count like Slytherin. Mom was in Hufflepuff, though."

Sirius wasn't able to answer because on the platform Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts, stepped foreward to the lectern.

Everyone fell silent.

"Welcome to Hogwarts to all those who have arrived here for the first time!" Professor McGonagall smiled at the first years. "Welcome back, Gryffindors, welcome back, Hufflepuffs, welcome back, Ravenclaws, welcome back, Slytherins!" The houses cheered when they were announced. "A fresh school year is about to begin…"

Sirius now was so nervous that he barely understood McGonagall's words. He wished that he had made plans like James to tell the Sorting Hat in which house he wanted to belong. James wanted to ask to be put in Gryffindor because for his father asking seemed to have worked. James said that asking never hurt.

A heavy, icy lump had formed in Sirius' stomack by the time the Sorting Hat began to sing his famous Hogwart's Song:

_Oh you may not think me pretty,  
>But don't judge on what you see,<br>I'll eat myself if you can find  
>A smarter hat than me.<br>You can keep your bowlers black,  
>Your top hats sleek and tall,<br>For I'm __the Hogwarts Sorting__ Hat  
>And I can cap them all.<br>There's nothing hidden in your head  
>The Sorting Hat can't see,<br>So try me on and I will tell you  
>Where you ought to be. <em>

McGonagall started to call out the names of the new students, starting with "Abbott, Milena." The girl sat down timidly on the edge of the stool. The Sorting Hat barely touched her hair before it shouted: "Hufflepuff!"

The first house table welcomed their new member with cheers.

The Sorting quickly continued until the turn had come for "Hagrid, Albert" who was sorted to Gryffindor. The huge boy grinned and then blushed because his father at the teachers' table yelled his name so loudly. McGonagall gave Hagrid a sharp look and he shut up again.

"Krum, Victoria!" McGonagall called not long afterwards.

Vicky whispered to Sirius: "Wish me luck!" and almost ran towards the stool.

The Sorting Hat took his time with her, and after a whole minute shouted: "Slytherin!"

"Told you so!" she shouted towards Sirius before hopping down the stairs and being welcomed by her house mates. All of a sudden Sirius wanted to be Sorted to Slytherin so he could be with her.

Victor Krum was much more composed than his colleague Hagrid, but his grin was nonetheless a very happy one.

Next among Sirius' friends and family were the Longbottom twins. Philia joined Gryffindor and Xena Ravenclaw. Both "Malfoy, Lucinda" and "Potter, James" were Sorted to Slytherin and Gryffindor like they had predicted.

Then it was the Weasleys' turn. Dominique was first. She seemed very surprised when the Hat called "Hufflepuff!", but then shrugged and sat down at the yellow and black table.

Freddie hesitated went McGonagall called him. Now that his cousin hadn't become a Gryffindor, anything could happen.

"Do you need an extra invitation, Mr Weasley?" McGonagall asked.

Freddie hurried to sit down, nervously gnawing his bottom lip. "Gryffindor, Gryffindor…" he mumbled and the Hat declared him: "Gryffindor!"

The boy was so relieved he nearly tripped over his own feet on the way to his housetable. He fell down heavily next to James who clapped his back.

Now there were only three children left to Sort. Sirius watched his sister Rose walk to the platform. After him there was only one other boy.

Seconds felt like hours while the Sorting Hat sat on Rose's head, but then it shouted: "Gryffindor!"

Finally McGonagall said: "Weasley, Sirius!"

He got up, feeling hundreds of eyes staring him. Whispering started in some corners of the Great Hall, or was he imagining that?

Everyone seemed to be irritated that he, too, was a Weasley, but didn't have the same red hair like the rest of his family who for the most part waited for him at the Gryffindor table. Sirius had always been proud that his hair was black and long like his namesake's.

McGonagall smiled reassuringly and put the Sorting Hat on his head.

Immediately a strange voice spoke inbetween his ears: "I see that you are the descendant of two very old wizarding families, though others have given you their name."

_What two old families?_ Sirius wondered.

"Both your parents studied here at Hogwarts," the Hat continued.

_My real parents? Do you know who they are? Or are you talking about Mom and Dad? I know they were in Gryffindor! What do you mean?_

"You would make Gryffindor proud, young sir."

_So I'll be in Gryffindor?_ Sirius felt unsure about it. His eyes strayed to the Slytherin table where Vicky sat, curiousity on her face.

"But I can see that your heart is with another house for which you would be an enrichment."

_Vicky, he's talking about Vicky__… maybe Slytherin is okay, too…_

"Slytherin?" the Sorting Hat's voice asked in head. "Then _Slytherin_ it is!" The name of the house was audible for everyone in the Great Hall.

Sirius felt shaky as he got up and walked to the Slytherin table where the boys and girls applauded his arrival. Only a few other kids on the other tables clapped, most of them from his family.

At least he wasn't the first Weasley ever to be in Slytherin, Sirius thought.

Among a group of four-years Sirius' cousin Amanda was sitting, daughter of his Uncle Charlie. She had always been fascinated by dragons which were her father's profession, and had helped him to take care of the eggs and babies since she'd been able to walk, so no-one really had been surprised when she became a Slytherin.

Vicky and a blonde, tall sixth-year boy who introduced himself as one of the prefects made room for Sirius to sit down.

After the Hat had finished the Sorting and the last boy had joined the Ravenclaw table, he spoke once again: "Remember, boys and girls, no matter what house you've been sorted to, stand together and Hogwarts will be strong from within!"

Applause welled up during which McGonagall rose again and stepped foreward on the dais.

A series of loud cracks ripped through the air and a small groupf of elves appeared on her side. The one in front of magical creatures was clothed in a knee-length, rainbow-coloured robe and wore a huge white chef's hat between his ears.

The Headmistress silenced the students with a gesture.

"It is not only the witches and wizards that we welcome back at Hogwarts," McGonagall spoke, "it is also the Free Elves who kindly agreed to cater for us again for another year."

The four tables applauded and cheered for the elves.

McGonagall stepped aside and let the cook have the last words: "Hello everyone. My name is Barny. For those of you who don't know me yet, I am the head cook of the Free Elves of Hogwarts. Whenever you're starving or your sweet tooth needs stuffing, feel free to visit the kitchen. We hope you enjoy the meals and desserts we prepared for today's feast! And now" – Barny stood on top of his naked toes and shouted: "dig in!"

With loud cracks the elves disappeared – and the house tables were full of bowls and plates and trays, filled with steaming soups and gravy, delicious steaks and sausages, mixed vegetables, lettuce, noodles and rice. On multi-leveled silver trays there were all kinds of desserts: puddings, fruit salad, chocolate mousse, cakes and enchated ice cream that wouldn't melt until you started eating from it.

"We start with dessert, right?", Vicky asked.

Sirius helped himself to a huge piece of chocolate cake. "You bet!"

**Note: The Sorting Hat's Song is quoted from JKR's HP 1.**** "Stand together, be strong from within" are the words that the Hat uses, according to Nearly Headless Nick, whenever it feels the need to warn about something.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews!**

**I just want to say that I don't know how much longer I'll able to publish the chapters at this speed. Three term papers are waiting to be finished and I have to work from next week onwards. But I promise to do my best.**

**I've worked out a complete plot line by now and I can tell you that we will meet many characters from Harry's, Hermione's and Ron's school days.**

**And now: enjoy!**

**The Slytherin Common Room**

The prefect whose name Sirius had forgotten the second he had heard it, and another prefect girl led all the first year students to the Slytherin part of the ancient castle.

Vicky walked next to Sirius. "Do you remember their names?" she whispered.

"No, damn! I thought you would…"

A boy closeby looked at them. "I know their names! The boy is Andy and the girl's name is Melissa." He had a mild Irish accent. "And I'm Baldric Greengrass by the way."

"Hello, Baldric." Vicky and Sirius chorused.

"Okay, listen, first years!" Melissa shouted and the small crowd became quieter. They were now in a hallway from which stairs led up and down. "Some of you may have heard from their parents or grand-parents that Slytherin House was in the dungeons. Well, this is no longer true. In the fight against You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters parts of Hogwarts Castle above the dungeons broke down, and under that weight the dungeons caved in. The re-builders of Hogwarts, in agreement with the portraits of the former headmasters, decided that all four houses from now on should live in a tower. So, first years, that's why we're going upstairs now."

The boys and girls started to suggest to each other what the new tower might look like, their fantasies getting further and further away from the truth the more stairs they climbed. The group stopped in front of a huge portrait depicting a view of the Hogwarts castle with the lake in the background. Two male figures were waiting in the picture, and the Bloody Baron hovered next to it.

Andy demanded: "Silence, please!"

The ghost was the first to speak to the children. "Welcome, first years, to Slytherin tower! This tower will be your home for the most part of the next seven years. Here you will sleep, study, find new friends, plan Quidditch tactics, celebrate the matches you've won, booze and snog and"-

"Thank you, Bloody Baron!" Melissa interrupted.

The first years snickered.

"Now to the password procedure you have to follow in order to enter." Melissa pointed at the huge picture.

One of the portraits, a slender man with short black hair and a goatee beard, dressed in green old-fashioned robes, started to speak. "We, the former Slytherin headmasters of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, cordially welcome you to our lovely new tower! This is Severus Snape" – the speaker forced the other portrait (pale-faced beneath the curtains of long black hair and clothed in long, black robes) with a little nudge to smile – "and my humble self is called Phineas Nigellus Black. We will occasionally drop by in our portraits in the common room, because this lovely frame here actually belongs to the Bloody Baron's portrait who seems to be absent right now…"

"You kicked him out." accused Snape.

"Oh, we don't need two of the Barons at the same time, don't we?" assuaged Phineas him.

The ghost next to the portrait raised an eyebrow.

"Anyway," Phineas continued, "dear first years, the Baron or any other Slytherin portrait is authorised to demand the password or password phrase from you. If you answer correctly, the portrait will swing open and you may enter. Now, dear Melissa, what is this week's password?" Phineas grinned.

Melissa sighed. "The password is, and I'm quite embarassed that you chose this one, Headmaster, _Slytherin kicks ass_."

Phineas applauded, the picture swung back into the wall and gave way to the entrance.

"When you enter make sure that all of you receive a timetable from us!" Andy said and walked inside first.

Sirius and Vicky were torn between looking at their timetables and gazing at the enormous common room.

Vicky cried: "We've got Flying class together with Gryffindor!" Of course she had checked her father's subject first.

Sirius was busy taking in the spectacular room. The common room was similar to a long rectangle corridor, only that it was about fifteen metres wide and one hundred metres long. On the left hand side from the entrance there were huge panorama windows from which one had a lovely view over the lake and the mountains surrounding Hogwarts. Next to the windows were dozens of sofas and other seating arrangements in different shades of green where the older students were sitting and chatting. The floor and the walls were held in silver. On the right side there were some fire places and portraits, a trophy cabinet and delicate, black book shelves and some stairways leading to the upper part of the tower.

Not unlike the magic candles in the Great Hall, fish of all kinds and colours floated along the high ceiling. Sirius could have spent the whole evening staring at them, but then the prefects called the first years together one last time.

The seven girls left with the female prefect who led them up one flight of stairs.

Andy lead the eight remaining boys up the stairs to the first years' dormitory. "There are two sleeping rooms for you, so four each. Your trunks are already in there and your owls have been given places in the Owlery. If you have any questions, I'll be in the common room till ten o'clock. You can stay up as long as you want to today, but from tomorrow onwards bedtime is ten thirty. Breakfast is from seven to seven fourty-five, so make sure you set your clocks and get up in time. Lessons start at eight fifteen. To make sure you arrive at your class rooms in time, Melissa and I will escort you to your first lessons this week and the teachers will show you to all following classes. Meeting point is eight sharp at the house table."

Baldric Greengrass got the next bed to Sirius. The other two boys were Alexander Hill and Robert Lennon, both of them looking a little lost in today's events. They had gotten acquainted on the train and were relieved they now were in the same house, since they both came from Muggle families.

"The two of you are from wizard families, right?" Robert asked. "So what's the fuss with calling all normal people Muggles?"

"It's not polite to call someone a Muggle. The correct word is non-magical." Sirius said. _Non-magical_ was the politically correct term for all people outside the wizarding community, Hermione had made sure her children used the phrase.

Alexander wondered: "Is it racist to call someone a Muggle?"

"It used to be the normal word for all non-magical people, but then a little more than a decade ago an evil wizard who named himself Lord Voldemort tried to kill all witches and wizards who were born outside the wizarding community." Sirius explained. "He wanted the so-called purebloods to rule and give them exclusive access to magic. They killed many people who's parents were Muggles, and they also attacked non-magical people. Voldemort's followers called themselves the Death Eaters, and they fought against the Order of the Phoenix that was founded by Albus Dumbledore. He was the last headmaster before Snape from the portrait outside and McGonagall."

Baldric said: "Voldemort lost the fight here in Hogwarts, that's the fight Melissa mentioned, why Slytherin House is no longer in the dungeons."

"Your family is pureblood, right?" Sirius asked him. Not that it mattered anymore.

Baldric was almost ashamed to admit this. "In Ireland the conflicts weren't as bad as here..."

"And you?" Robert asked Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. My parents adopted me when I was only a few days old. That's why my sister Rose is only six months younger than me. My mom is the only witch in her family and my dad is a Weasley, they are one of the oldest wizard families of England."

"His dad's a famous Quidditch player!" Baldric told the other boys.

It soon became obvious Alexander and Robert had no clue what Quidditch was. And even more obvious when they hung up football posters next to their beds.

Sirius and his family had once been to a football match between two local clubs near Godric's Hollow with Uncle Harry's family. James shared his father's appreciation for the sport, but Ron and Ginny hadn't liked it. Sirius didn't care that football was less interesting than Quidditch because they had brought plenty of delicious food with them and he had a lot of fun with his family.

"Where's the point in a ball game with no brooms?" Ron had asked and Hermione had kicked his shin for being rude. So Ron had moved out of his wife's kicking range and sat down next to Sirius. He whispered in his son's ear: "I wish they had at least something like the Snitch so the boring game could end sooner…"

The boys in the dormitory told each other more about their families, where they lived, how many siblings and what kinds of pets they had.

Baldric asked: "Who wants to check out the common room?"

Lex and Robbie, as they had been nick-named by now, agreed.

"I'll come down in a minute," said Sirius. "I wanna put some stuff from my trunk in the drawers and on my desk."

"Okay, see you later."

**Re-Decorating the Dormitory**

Sirius had already put the orange-and-black blankets of his father's club, the Chudley Cannons, on his bed, and hung up a poster with all the signatures from his dad's team mates on the wall.

Out of a side pocket of his trunk he pulled his memory box. Actually it was just an old cigar box that his Uncle George had had as a boy, but the cover was enchanted and the coloured parrot on it shrieked when it was touched. And _memory box_ sounded much more mysterious than cigar box.

Sirius put the box on his bed and sat down. He opened the lid and the parrot shrieked. On top of all his possessions was a black-and-white photograph of his namesake Sirius Black. Uncle Harry had replicated the moving picture for him and transformed a teaspoon into a frame. Harry told him that his father James had taken the picture during the Marauders' sixth year in Hogwarts. The sixteen-year-old teenager version of Sirius in the photograph looked fabulous, wearing Gryffindor Quidditch robes, his broom raised in his right hand, strands of wavy hair escaping from his long dark ponytail, his head thrown back in roaring laughter and mischief sparkling in his eyes.

Young Sirius admired that boy and the man he had never met. He wanted to be like Sirius Black, wanted to sneak around in the secret passage ways of Hogwarts, play tricks with his own gang of Marauders, win the Hogwarts Cup, fight against evil wizards…

Whenever Sirius was very sad, he used to tell everything that had happened to the portrait. Somehow the other Sirius seemed to understand him. Of course, he was only a picture who couldn't talk, but when Sirius spoke to him, he sometimes stopped laughing, walked to the edge of his frame and sat down on his broom to listen to him.

As Sirius became older he spoke less often to the other Sirius. It felt childish now, he was no longer a little boy. But he still wanted to be like the other Sirius, and so he had decided to start with looking like his idol. He had let his black hair grow and since last year it even reached his shoulder blades.

Sirius put the photograph down next to the clock on his nightstand.

The next item from his memory box was a family portrait of himself, Rose and their parents. Even the new baby was in the picture, although one had to know that Hermione was pregnant, because one couldn't see anything yet.

Sirius imagined that Rose had put her copy of the picture on her bedside table just like him.

Then he walked over to his desk. With a magnet he stuck a Chocolate frog card with his father on it, flying on his broomstick in front of three goal posts, to one of the metal bookends on the table. Then he retrieved the pile of school books from his trunk and put them between the bookends.

Sirius kept one book and put in on top of all the other books: his copy of _Hermione Granger-Weasley's Muggle Studies: The New Revised Edition_. He turned the book upside down so he was able to take a look at his mother's photograph on the back cover. He knew by heart the words that she had written on the front page for him:

_Dear Sirius,_

_your father and I wish you a wonderful first year at Hogwarts! Enjoy making new friends and studying magic! We love you and are proud of you!_

_Love and hugs, Mom_

And underneath his father had scribbled:

_See you at your first Quidditch game! Love, Dad_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Based on JKR's Harry Potter series.**

**Rating: K.**

**Again, thanks for the reviews! I appreciate each of them!**

**Now let's have a look at the magical adventure of Sirius' first lessons at Hogwarts…**

**The First Day of School**

Sirius was tired as hell when he sat down for breakfast the next morning. He and Vicky introduced the boys and girls from their dormitories to each other. The girls yawned just as much as the boys.

The breakfast was delicious and the waffles were as yummy as if Grandma Molly had baked them.

All of a sudden a huge noise erupted above the children's heads: the owls arrived.

Sirius' cheeks started to burn when a tiny brown owl landed on his sister's shoulder, a letter attached to its foot. He had forgotten to write his parents to which house he had been sorted!

He would never be able to write the letter now and then find the way to the Owlery and come back in time before the prefects would lead the other first years to class…

Meanwhile Rose got up and walked over to him, the letter in her hand. "I figured you'd forget, dear brother!"

Sirius was embarassed, but – thank Merlin – his sister didn't tease him.

"Mom says you shouldn't worry," Rose continued, "and she wrote that dad also forgot to write Grandma Molly on his first day here and Grandma sent him a Howler because he still hadn't sent a letter after one week, but Mom says she won't do that to you." She only interrupted herself because she needed some air. "Anyway, you can read the rest on your own." Rose handed the letter to Sirius. "Gotta run, the prefects will fetch us to class. I've got Potions first and I'm totally excited! See you later!" She started to run off.

"Rose, stop, wait!" Sirius shouted and ran after her. His sister turned around quickly and her curly red hair flew around her face. "Can you show me where the Owlery is? You know how Pig the Second gets huffy when I don't look after him…" And it wouldn't hurt to write his parents…

"Sure. Meet you here at three after class?"

Sirius nodded. "Hey, can I bring some of the boys from my dorm? Two of them are from non-magical families, I bet they'd be interested."

"Okay, bring them along. There's only one girl from a non-magical family in my dorm, I'll ask her if she wants to come, too." Rose grinned. "We can introduce all of them to the mysterious world of magic!" She raised her hands and wiggled with her fingers, indicating fog floating around her.

Sirius laughed. "I'll bring the rest of the enchanted sweets I bought on the train."

"Okay, great, see you!"

**Transfiguration with McGonagall**

Transfiguration was the first double lesson on the youngest Slytherins' timetable. As soon as Sirius entered the class room his eyes fell on the brown tabby cat that was sitting on the teacher's desk.

Sirius whispered to Baldric who was walking at his side: "That's a classic, my dad told me all about it!"

"What do you mean by that?" Baldric asked. "McGonagall won't do something to the cat, will she? Isn't it illegal to bewitch living creatures?"

They sat down in the back row.

But Sirius grinned instead of answering. "You'll see." He was excited that he was going to be taught by the same teacher like his parents. Hermione always spoke about McGonagall with utmost respect and then continued to lecture here kids that according to _Hogwarts – A History_ there had been headmasters before who continued to teach their subject.

Most of the children flinched when the cat jumped foreward and turned into the headmistress mid-air. After the initial surprise there were some whispered comments.

McGonagall walked down the aisle between the desks and came to a halt in front of Sirius. "What other secrets about my class did your father share with you, Mr Weasley?"

Sirius thought: _That he considered you a little bit scary… _"Ehm…" All he could come up with in his head were Ron's stories about McGonagall's vivid support for the Gryffindor Quidditch team or how she duelled with Snape. "That he learned a great deal from you?"

McGonagall raised an eyebrow and ordered Sirius to resettle to a desk an the front. Sirius tried not to take it personal because the headmistress now filled up other unoccupied desks in the first two rows.

Then she started to ask the boys and girls what they already knew about Transfiguration and what they expected to learn during their first year.

Together the teacher and students compiled that Transfiguration was the magical transformation of dead objects into other dead or living objects. It was possible to transform living beings into dead objects, but as Baldric had assumed this was forbidden since the results were deadly in most cases. It was also illegal to transform living beings into another one.

"It is possible to animate dead objects, but the spells will wear off over time." McGonagall lifted a pencil from her desk. "I'm going to transform this pencil into a turtle and by the end of today's lesson we are going to see that the spell will have started to reverse itself." She raised her wand and the pencil on her palm became a tiny turtle.

Two girls in the front row made: "Ah!"

McGonagall put the turtle on one of the girls' desks. "Convince yourselves that it really is a turtle now and then pass the turtle to your neighbour. The last one of you will bring it up front and place it on my desk." She paused for a second. "Some of you may be wondering now why magical people don't spend all of their time transforming things into money. Well, there are certain laws of physics and other restrictions that limit magic. Enchanted money lasts less than an hour." McGonagall picked up the sponge for the blackboard and transformed it into a golden Galleon coin which she then passed on to the same girl to be handed through class.

"Another law, for example, is the impossibility of conjuring up food. Things can be transformed to look permanently like food, but this doesn't mean that they are edible. Transfiguration is a very complex and potentially dangerous form of magic, so please make sure you always follow the security advices I give you. I won't hesitate to throw out anyone who fools around in my class or willingly ignores the safety measures. Is that clear?"

The class nodded.

"The only exception which allowes to transform a living being," explained McGonagall, "is the self-transformation of a witch or wizard into another living being. That is what you've witnessed me doing. Does anyone of you know what the witches and wizards are called who are able to transform into animals?"

No-one raised their hand faster than Sirius.

"Mr Weasley?"

"They are called Animagi, Professor."

"That is correct. Let's see what else you know… Who controls them?"

"The Animagus Registration Office in the Ministery of Magic."

"How many Animagi exist in the UK?"

"About fifteen." Sirius was determined that she wouldn't beat him. He knew a lot about Animagus magic, because the other Sirius had been one. He had been able to transform into a huge dog.

"Can anyone become an Animagus?"

"No, only those who register with the Ministery first and receive permission. And you have to be a very skilled witch or wizard." Sirius put on his most charming smile, and indeed he seemed to be able to placate the headmistress.

McGonagalls lips twitched as if she was fighting against a smile. "Thank you, Mr Weasley." she said. "Now, class, please open your copies of _The Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration _on page five. You don't need your wands yet."

McGonagall demonstrated the wand movement that was explained and illustrated on the page and told the class to copy her gesture. After a few minutes the class had to repeat the spell word – "Collustro!" – after her before the pupils were allowed to practice the combination of the wand movement plus the spell on their own.

The aim was to change the colour of the tea cup that was now sitting on each desk. The headmistress walked between the tables and observed the progress of her class.

Here and there she corrected the pronunciation of the spell word or she adjusted someone's grip on the wand.

Sirius was very confident that he said "Collustro!" the right way and that he held his wand neither too hard nor too sloppy, but nothing happened. He tried again. And again. And again.

Then all of a sudden his cup became a very light shade of pink. Sirius was so surprised he dropped his wand. From the wand's tip a tiny spark errupted and it threatened to roll of his table. Sirius caught it at the last second.

"Try not to break your wand like your father, Mr Weasley." McGonagall said. Sirius hadn't noticed that she had been near.

"Let's have a look at your cup." McGonagall picked up the piece of china. "You are the first in class who has got any result, that's good. Did you think of something pink when you used the spell?"

"No?" Sirius couldn't remember.

"Hm… interesting." McGonagall turned the cup around in her hand. "May I see your wand, please?"

Sirius nodded and gave it to her.

"Yew…" she muttered. "Dragonheart string, isn't it…" She smiled when she handed the wand back. "The dragonheart strings sometimes try to influence minor colour spells by directing them towards the colour which their dragons' scales had. Maybe your cup will be purple by the end of the lesson."

"Is that bad, professor?" Sirius asked. "Does it mean that I don't have control over my wand or something?"

"Don't worry, Mr Weasley." McGonagall kindly replied. "A wand can never be controlled, because _it_ is the one who chooses the wizard, not the other way round. The wand has agreed to be used by you and right now it tries to communicate with you, wants to show you that the two of you can work together and achieve great things."

Sirius wondered: "Are you saying that my wand is exited?"

The teacher smiled. "That's another way of saying it."

Sirius continued to practice. His hopes that the cup would indeed turn red seemed in vain. Nothing happenend, no matter how carefully he waved his wand or how clearly he uttered the spell. He even tried to think of a purple cup to help the spell, but still nothing. The lesson came towards its end and Sirius was about to give up and just sit and wait for McGonagall to let the students go, when the miracle happened: the cup jerked and turned into a bright red.

"Professor!" Sirius cried, then blushed vividly when he remembered what McGonagall had said about acting up.

The teacher reprimanded him: "In my class students are expected to raise their hands and wait quietly, Mr Weasley."

"I'm sorry, Professor…"

Two minutes later McGonagall stood next to Sirius' table and praised him for the whole class to hear. She also complimented some other students. Baldric's cup had turned light green, Lucinda had managed to make the polka dots on her cup disappear, and Robbie's cup had a crack, but was orange. Those few whose cups hadn't changed at all were told not to be discouraged.

Then McGonagall told the whole class: "Pack your things and wait outside for me to take you to your next class. On your way out look at the pencil and the sponge I transformed earlier."

When Sirius passed the teacher's desk he saw that the coin had changed back into a sponge that still had a little bit of golden glitter on it, and the turtle had become a strange, elongated four-legged object that no longer moved.

While McGonagall led the Slytherin first years through the castle and towards the greenhouses, she thought for a moment that the young Weasley was as talented as his mother and as noisy as his father. But then she remembered: _They aren't really his parents_…

**Herbology with Neville**

Neville Longbottom greeted his next class in the middle of the meadow between the greenhouses. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to hold the lesson in the open.

He knew some of the Slytherin students from sight, and Sirius Weasley and Victoria Krum because they had been playmates of his daughters since they were little. His wife Luna wouldn't be teaching them until their third year when they had Divination.

"You can leave your bags here, you won't need anything today," Neville instructed the children. "Let's have a walk to the edge of the Forbidden Forest."

The students followed Neville to a group of trees with green needles and bright red seed cones, about one hundred feet from where a path disappeared into the forest.

"At first," Neville began, "I may remind you that the Forbidden Forest is called _forbidden_ for a very good reason. Many magical creatures live in there like centaurs who prefer to live undisturbed. Other creatures like the acromantulae – those are giant spiders – could become very dangerous if you don't know how to protect yourselves. The most obvious reason, though it is often overlooked by students, is that you get lost very easily. I can tell you from personal experience that you don't want to spend the night in there."

Some students laughed nervously, not sure if he was joking.

"Now, who wants to have a guess what we are doing here?"

"We're looking at the trees?" a girl suggested.

"Do you know what these trees are called?" Neville asked. "Victoria?"

"They are yew trees, their wood is used to make wands."

"That's right." Neville smiled. "For the next few lessons were are going to talk about wand trees that are common here in the UK. It's important that you get acquainted with the materials of your wands, because each has different characteristics. What are your wands made of?"

Neville asked round and the students answered with hawthorne, elm, cherry, chestnut, holly, mahoghany and willow. Sirius was proud that he was the only one who's wand was made of yew.

Neville's next question was: "What other wand trees do you know?"

Vicky raised her hand: "My father's wand is made of hornbeam!"

Lucinda said: "There's an elder wand mentioned in the _Tales of Beedle the Bard_."

And a boy from the other dormitory answered that an uncle of his who had grown up in China possessed a wand made of bamboo.

Neville let the pupils form groups and the rest of the lesson they spent describing the yew branches, needles and seeds and learned that although all parts of the tree were poisonous, they could be used for healing purposes. Their first homework assignment was to read the chapter on yew trees in the_ Handbook of Herbology_.

**Charms with Flitwick**

Professor Longbottom escorted them back into the castle for their last class of the morning before lunch, Charms with his colleague Flitwick.

Sirius thought it was pretty much the same like Transfiguration, just without changing an object. They had to practice a wand movement, then repeat the spell and then practice both together.

Flitwick told the students to take turns with Summoning a feather with the Accio spell.

Sirius' partner was Vicky. They agreed that they liked Flitwick's jokes and Sirius asked his friend if she wanted to come along to see the Owlery later.

**A Visit to the Owlery**

In the afternoon Rose, Sirius and their friends met in front of the Great Hall. Rose was accompanied by a girl called Louise Sheffield. With Sirius were Lex, Robbie and Baldric. Vicky arrived last.

There had been plenty of time for Sirius to write a letter during History of Magic, the last class of the day. The subject was so boring, no wonder Professor Binns had died while lecturing and become a ghost.

Everyone followed Rose up the West tower. They laughed when they got separated, because the stairs moved and changed directions constantly.

Robbie and Lex were fine with the tiny owls the Weasley siblings owned, Pig the Second named after Ron's owl Pigwidgeon, and Coco. Robbie held Pig in his hand while Sirius fed the bird and tied the letter to one of his legs.

"Hold him out of the window!" Sirius told Robbie when Pig seemed to prefer to snuggle instead of leaving. The tiny owl stretched his wings when the wind ruffled his feathers and then took flight.

"Hey everyone!" Lucinda came over to them, a huge snow owl sitting on her arm.

"Wow, your owl's really pretty!" Vicky said.

Lucinda smiled: "I got Galadriel from Grandpa for my eleventh birthday!"

Robbie and Lex eyed the bird sceptically.

"Oh, don't be so scared, she's really sweet!" Lucinda kissed her owl on its beak.

Louise was brave enough to let Galadriel sit on her arm when Lucinda passed her a leather glove.

The children fed and groomed the owls with some of the supplies from the Owlery. Soon the middle-sized brown school owls which could be used by anybody who needed them where flocking to them.

"How do the owls know where they have to fly to?" Lex wondered.

"It's magic! They just know." Sirius said. "Write down your parents' address on the envelope and they'll find the right house. Might be wise to warn your parents though that the owls want to be fed in exchange for the delivery."

Baldric said: "Yeah, some raw meat or a mouse."

"My older brother owns some snakes, he can spare some mice." Louise said.

"Oh…" Robbie looked uncomfortable. "My parents are vegetariens…"

"Some owls also like chocolate biscuits." Rose said. "But you would have to test which ones first."

They went downstairs and outside to sit down under the trees by the lake.

Louise, Lex and Robbie got to hear lots of stories about growing up in magical families, the enchanted Diagon Alley with all the magical shops (especially Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes) and the ancient bank house Gringott's, St Mungo's Hospital and the Ministery of Magic.

Sirius had brought the latest issue of _Quidditch Weekly_ and the famous book _Quidditch Through the Ages_. With the help of the pictures and some Chocolate Frog cards he and Vicky explained how the game worked. Eating the Chocolate Frogs itself turned out to be funny because Louise, Robbie and Lex had never before had moving sweets.


	6. Chapter 6

**I know it's been a long time since the last chapter, but I wasn't lazy in the meantime. I've written some scenes for later chapters and you'll get the first taste of what I'm up to at the end of this chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

**The Second Day at Hogwarts**

Hermione and Ron's reply arrived at breakfast the next day. Besides the letter there were two non-magical, identical ultrasound pictures in the envelope.

_We thought you and Rose would like to see your little brother_, Hermione had written.

Sirius ran over to the Gryffindor table, shouting: "We're going to have a brother!"

Rose hugged him and kissed her copy of the ultrasound picture. Lots of other Weasleys from the four tables gathered around them. On the back of Hermione's letter all of them wrote down their best wishes, and Sirius ran back upstairs to his dormitory, hiding Pig under his school robes.

He fed Pig with a piece of cheese and some bread crums from breakfast while he added a few more lines like _Have you decided on a name yet?_ and _I'm so exited!_ and_ Dad, our first Flying lessons will be in the afternoon!_

Sirius sent Pig the Second on his way and then looked at the picture again. He slipped it into a corner of the family portrait on his nightstand before running back to the Great Hall.

The second day of school started with a closer look at the house teacher of Slytherin, Anna O'Hara, during Care of Magical Creatures. She was the youngest member of the staff of Hogwarts School, because she had only been in her third year when Voldemort attacked Hogwarts and had been among the students who were evacuated via the secret passage to the Hog's Head.

She seemed to be a kind person and told the students that they could come to her with any problem they had.

The double lesson had a rather traditional, but unspectacular topic: Flobberworms…

They weren't very exciting to look at, just wiggly, almost see-through, boring worms… The boys and girls had to test which kinds of lettuce the Flobberworms prefered and what kinds of vegetables they didn't eat. But Sirius thought the lesson was okay because he could chat with Vicky and Lucinda and Lex who would be taking care of the same Flobberworms than he for the course of the week.

Their Potions teacher was an ex-Ministry official in his mid-fourties named Felix Fletcher. He used to work in the Office for the Control of Magical Substances before he started to instruct at Hogwarts. There were some funny rumours going around that he had a crush on McGonagall.

Professor Fletcher started his lesson with checking if all the students were present and if they had all their text books and supplies with them.

Then the young Slytherins were allowed to start brewing their first potion: Blue Bubblewater. In other words: A soapy liquid which could be used for creating extra long-lasting blue soap bubbles.

Even the children of non-magical descent were bored soon.

"How old does he think we are?" whispered Baldric. "Five?"

The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was a former Auror, a friendly woman who had been in the Order of the Phoenix, Clarissa Moody.

Sirius had met her once at Uncle Harry's birthday party and so he knew that she was the daughter of the famous Mad-Eye Moody who had died during the war against Voldemort.

The class saw her for a single lesson and after that they had another single lesson of Muggle Studies.

It did not even take five minutes for Sirius to decide that it was even more boring than History of Magic. He took out his copy of _Hogwarts – A History_ and started to read the chapter on Salazar Slytherin. His thoughts drifted off after a passage on Parseltongue. Uncle Harry was a Parselmouth. It was widely believed that one had to inherit the gift of communicating with snakes and reptiles, but Sirius knew that his father had been able to learn some phrases and use them successfully.

The only live snakes Sirius had ever seen had been in a zoo and he didn't reckon he would ever see live ones at any other place. So even if he were able to talk to snakes, the gift would be quite useless.

He continued to read the paragraph about Peeves the Poltergeist, and how Hogwarts castle had become blessed to have him.

The afternoon and the first Flying lesson with Victor Krum were what the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years had been waiting for all day long.

Vicky shouted: "Hi, dad!" when they arrived at the Quidditch stadium after lunch.

Krum tried to keep a straight face: "That's Professor for you, young lady!" With the years he had lived in the UK he had lost his strong Bulgarian accent almost completely.

Vicky snickered.

All of the students were supposed to train with school brooms, so no-one could show off with a fancy broom or injure themselves while flying with a broom they couldn't handle yet.

Krum alotted a broom to each student and told them to get into position in two rows opposite to each other.

The teacher too had a very old broom that looked like it definitely had seen better days.

"Some of you may have some flying experience already because you've had toy brooms or maybe an old broom from one of your parents. Since the Flying lessons are meant to teach you how to fly properly and safely, all of you will have to take part. Those of you who do well will be allowed to take their flying exams early in the week before the Quidditch team try-outs."

At this point of the speech Rose gave her brother thumbs up and grinned. They planned on competing on the Quidditch field the first chance they could get.

Krum continued to explain: "Flying is wandless magic, so you can keep your wands in your pockets. And now let's get some action." Krum placed his broom on the ground next to his feet. "Lay your brooms down gently, don't throw them. With some practice you will be able to simply let go off the handle and your broom will hover in front of you, but it's easier to learn to summon the broom in the beginning.

Those of you who are right-handed, please stand on the left side of your broom and extend your right hand above the handle. Those who are left-handed like me stand on the right side of the broom and extend the left hand."

Krum waited for the children to do so. "Treat your broom with respect and it will follow your commands. Speak polite, but determined." Krum extended his left hand above where the handle of his broom was laying. With a clear voice he commanded: "Up!"

The broom jumped upwards and Krum closed his palm around the handle. Seconds later he ordered the class to begin practicing.

It took some while until all children where able to command their brooms. While some still tried, the others put down their brooms, summoned them, put them down, shouted "Up!" again and so on.

Louise caused some tumult when she accidentally summoned the broom of the girl next to her and her own broom shot away a few metres before landing on the grass.

"Don't worry, Miss Sheffield", Krum reassured her. "Sometimes brooms act up a little when they sense that we are nervous. Happened to me right before my first professional Quidditch match. And it got more lines in the paper than the fact that I _did _catch the Golden Snitch later…"

For the next exercise the pupils finally got to try flying. Krum demonstrated what they had to do: "Lean back a little and the broom will rise, lean foreward and the broom will lower."

The class spent some minutes hopping around on the Quidditch patch, some more, the others less successful.

Turning left or right worked pretty much the same way: one only had to lean in one direction and the broom would follow. James and Freddie tried to show off and collided, both fell off their broom.

Krum then conjured up an obstacle course that the students had to fly one after the other. There were some pairs of posts through which the had to pass, sometimes there were low blocks above which they have to rise and then behind the blocks slide down again.

Krum said: "There's no need to race through the obstacles and there's no prize for the fastest either. Just fly smoothly and relaxed."

A cushioning charm prevented that anyone could get hurt from an obstacle.

Sirius thought of himself that he did pretty well. As far as he could tell he _was_ the fastest to make it through the obstacle course.

A little later the children who already had flying experience were allowed to fly about three feet off the ground and throw balls to each other.

Sirius complained: "This broom is so lame!" Promplty his broom buckled and he had to grip the handle tightly. "Sorry, nothing personal."

Vicky said: "Dad let my try his Firebolt Series Three once, man, that thing accelerates and leaves your brain behind!"

Rose agreed: "Yeah, Firebolts are the best brooms ever! I wish Mom wasn't so scared of flying and let us have really fast ones!"

"The Nimbus brooms aren't bad either." Lucinda insisted.

Sirius couldn't help being sarcastic: "Let me guess, your Grandpa gave you a Nimbus?"

Lucinda sang "Maybe he did!" and made a looping with her broom.

Krum told her off from the other side of the Quidditch field: "No risky maneuvers, Miss Malfoy!"

At the end of the lesson Krum told the children to dismount and put the school brooms back into their shed behind the Quidditch stadium. Then he led the two classes up the stands and told them to sit down on the benches.

If Sirius had been asked at the beginning of the lesson whether he thought that all of his fellow pupils would be up in the air at the end, he would have said no. But Krum really had managed to teach each and every single one to stay floating in mid-air at least for a few moments.

From the top rows they had an amazing view over the Hogwarts grounds – and even more important – there simply existed no bad seats for the audience. Some of the children from non-wizarding families seemed to be frightened up here, but also some others had slightly pale faces.

"First, let me tell you how proud I am of you, dear class. All of you were brave enough to try flying and all of you made progress." Krum smiled and the boys and girls beamed back at him. "What I want to show you up here is that you don't have to be afraid of falling down during class. We haven't been flying high today, but we will soon."

Grinning Krum held up his right hand and flipped his fingers twice. There were some "Ah"s and "Oh"s when a broom raced towards him, one they hadn't seen before.

Krum mounted and Sirius started to pray that the famous Quidditch player would now show them some of his trademark moves like the Wronski feint – or even some of the risky manoeuvres that had been named after him.

Krum hovered a few feet in front of the class.

"Watch me." was all he said.

Then he fell of the broom.

Most of the pupils screamed, a few ran foreward to the edge of the stands, someone shouted: "Oh my god, we need an ambulance!"

All heads turned when Vicky started to laugh and clapped her hands like she had gone mad.

She had known all along that her father never had been in any danger of hurting himself.

Sirius looked down where Krum's broken body should have been – but where Krum actually was floating about a metre above the ground, swaying slightly as if suspended by an invisible safety net.

What Sirius realised and what Krum explained when he arrived back up in the stands was that the ground had been spelled with a cushioning charm that was used for the junior Quidditch league nowadays, but not for the adult players.

"One last thing, before you leave." Krum smiled again. "Like I said earlier, the first year students are allowed to try out for their House teams when they mastered the flying exams that will be held in about a month. For the rest of you who don't want to take the exam early, there will be another one at the end of the year, so there's no need to worry about it yet." His smile deepened. "But what I actually want to tell you: I'm very happy to announce that the winner of this year's Hogwarts' House Cup will play a friendship game against the winner of the Durmstrang House Cup at the end of the school year."

**Interlude**

Crushed.

A tiny fragment.

A shadow of what it had been before.

Seven splinters of what used to be one.

It –

_He _had been ripped apart state was not unknown to him.

It was not even uncomfortable anymore. He had been beyond uncomfortable for a _very _long time.

Who was he kidding, he had lost all sense of time. Furthermore he no longer had any senses left.

He knew that he still had an aim that was worth bothering to prolong his existence, but that was about it.

All he was still concerned with was the expansion of the tiny fragment that was left over from his former earthly existence.

He was conscious that there were others like him swirling around where he was now, buzzing around him like electrons around an atom.

Like planets around a sun.

Like flies around the devil.

He chuckled, though he had no voice to produce the sound, and no ears to hear the echo of his laughter, thrown back from the walls of his eternal prison.

That there _was_ a prison, some sort of membrane, engulfing him and the others, was something else he knew for a fact. He occasionally drifted against the outer rim of the membrane and bounced away from it again, coming into contact with others that were shattered like him, who had done unspeakable things like him.

Only, to him those things were not unspeakable.

They were great achievements, something to be proud of. No one before him had accomplished what he had succeeded in. No one before him had seen the world as a place to be conquered, to be ruled, to be cleaned of all unworthy creatures.

_There is only power and those too weak to seek it._

Those who were meant to crawl in the dust before him, meant to be his servants, bound to do his bidding. And then there were those who had to be wiped off the planet.

The way back to power was hard and stony, but he had made his first step.

He had learned how to repair himself, how to close the wholes in his shell, how to smoothen the sharp edges of the fragment he was damned to be.

He had learned how to absorb others and how to gain mass.

He had learned how to make the others _fear_ him.

It would still take some time until he was ready to leave his prison, but he was sure it would work. He had been forced to hide in the shadows before and like the last time he had _plenty_ of time.

**Like it? Let me know and send a review!**

**You all know where the quote is from, of course, but just for the record: J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Care of Magical… Puppies?**

The more lessons Sirius had, the more he liked being at Hogwarts. Studying and learning and remembering a lot of facts that others – Rose, that is – considered superfluous had always come natural to him.

On the other hand he also liked playing Quidditch and flying – but while Rose still didn't get enough of being outside after several hours of throwing and catching Quaffles with Dad, he usually was the one who went inside to sit in the library with Mom. Either she told him about what she was researching on or writing about at the moment while she made hot cocoa for Sirius and herself - or Sirius rummaged around in her vast library on his own. There were so many exiting things to be discovered in books – whole worlds to be explored and conquered – that he never grew tired of pulling out volumes from the shelves, of leafing through pages, of admiring diagrams and charts and maps.

And when nightfall came and his father and sister entered the house and fell down on the sofa with exhausted, red faces he would help his mother prepare something delicious for supper. He liked watching how light-handedly Mom waved her wand to order vegetables around or command a spoon to stir the contents of a frying pan. He agreed with her that cooking was just like potion brewing.

It turned out that the Potions master, Professor Fletcher, had intended the first lesson to be fun and during the week the lessons became more serious and harder to follow.

Though Sirius had been sceptic about the Headmistress at first, the boy now had to admit that he liked Professor McGonagall's stern and strict attitude. He had come to learn that she would pick a student at the beginning of each lesson and question the poor boy or girl about what they had learned in the previous lesson. On hindsight Sirius had done fairly well in the first Transfiguration lesson.

In Care of Magical Creatures Sirius' group earned ten points for Slytherin when their Flubberworms were the first ones to reproduce.

Neville Longbottom encouraged his class to do short presentations about their own wands, how they had acquired it, what their wands' first spell had been, what magical qualities the different sorts of wood had. For this Sirius earned another five points for the House Cup.

On Thursday Albert delivered an invitation to Sirius, Rose and their cousin James: the Hagrid family wanted to have them over for tea on Friday afternoon. The children accepted of course, since they had expected to be invited. Dinner with Hagrid on the first Friday of the schoolyear was a tradition that traced back to their parents' school time.

0=0=0=0

A huge table was already set up in front of Hagrid's house, right beside the pumpkin patch. His first house had been destroyed in the fight against Voldemort, so Hagrid had replaced it with a bigger house. Rooms had been added whenever it became necessary: when Hagrid's wife moved in after the wedding, when Albert was born, when the dog had a litter of cute puppies…

Albert stepped out of the house with a stack of plates and napkins on his arms when the children arrived.

"Mo-hom! They're here!" he shouted and then grinned. "Glad you're here, guys."

He put the plates down on the chequered table-cloth and hugged the arrivers sloppily just as one would do after a successful Quidditch match. Albert was very tall and overtopped even Sirius, no doubt a sign of his Giant heritage.

Not only was Hagrid a half-Giant, but also Albert's mother, Clarissa, was not entirely human. Clarissa was a former Quidditch colleague of Ron's. She ended her career about the same time as Ron started his and he had learned quite a few tricks from her before she retired from the world of broom sports. Clarissa was a few heads shorter than her husband Rubeus, but still reached two metres easily. Her nickname among her team mates used to be "Valkyre": she was blond, had broad shoulders for a woman and muscular arms that could intimidate anyone. She and Hagrid had fallen in love head over heels during a garden party that Ron and Hermione hosted to celebrate Sirius' and Rose's baptism. In under a year they had married and had baby – Little Albert. Because Giant babies grew faster in their first few years than humans, Albert was in the same year as their guests even though he was a year younger.

Clarissa appeared at the door with a huge cake floating in front of her and a dozen of big cupcakes swirling around her head. With her wand she ordered everything down on the table, and then she shook hands with Sirius, Rose and James.

"Rubeus should be here any second", Clarissa smiled. "Rose, would you be so kind and give me a hand in the kitchen while you tell me how your mom is doing?"

"Sure." Rose followed the gigantic woman into the house, from where the boys could here them laughing.

"What's for dinner?" James asked.

Albert grinned. "Mom's made her famous smoked boar, and she's made parsnip purée, roast potatoes and fresh pumpkin juice" –

"You're not tellin' yer mom's secrets, are ya?" Hagrid came round the corner of the house. If you knew him well enough, you could tell that the ruffling of his beard meant that he was smiling underneath it. Some grey strands had appeared in his hair over the last few years, which gave him a sort of dignity. Thanks to Clarissa's culinary talents his belly had grown quite a bit.

The meal was yummy and all of them had a great time, especially when Fang with her five puppies trotted around the corner of the house and joined them. The huge pups almost looked like fully grown dogs and would not have been recognisable as the younger generation if their mother hadn't been there for the comparison.

"Gosh, you're heavy!" Sirius laughed when he lifted a grey puppy off the ground. Only the long ears of the dog were black.

"That's Sira," Albus told him. "She was the last one to be born and she's the only girl."

"Sira," Sirius repeated. The puppy eagerly licked his hands and lower arms while he cuddled her. Funny that he should pick the dog whose name was similar to his.

Clarissa got some dog biscuits from inside the house so the children could feed the dogs. They sat down in the grass, the puppies either on their laps or strolling around between them and begging for food as if they were starving.

Hagrid helped Clarissa to bring the food back inside the house. While his wife oversaw the spells for cleaning the dishes, the half-giant pulled his garden chair over to the kids. Fang rested her head on his knees. She didn't seem worried about her pups, she knew that they were in good hands.

"Ye like dogs, lad, don't ye?" Hagrid asked Sirius.

"Sure I do. Mom never let us have a dog because of the cats."

"She still got that Crookshanks?"

"Yeah… He's terribly old, and he's no fun at all. But the other two – they're called Moony and Padfoot – they're okay, I guess." Sirius scratched Sira between the ears and the dog yawned. "One day when I woke up, Padfoot sat on my chest and had a dead mouse between his teeth, that was gross."

Hagrid and Sirius laughed together.

"You can come here to see the dogs after school, if ye like," Hagrid offered. "Or you'll wait a few days for a surprise in Care of Magical Crea- whoops, shouldn't've said that." He chuckled.

"Really? You'll bring the pups to class?" Sirius asked exitedly.

"Didn't say that." Hagrid shook his huge head. "No, didn't say that."

0=0=0=0

Sirius had almost forgotten Hagrid's slip about the surprise in Care of Magical Creatures when Miss O'Hara announced the following Tuesday that there was going to be an assistant teacher today.

The classroom was buzzing with anticipation while the young teacher instructed the class to put the tables and chairs to the corners of the room and to spread some blankets on the floor. "We're going to see some baby animals, a quite unusual species that is. Some of you might already have heard about the grown specimen, but I can assure you that the little ones are harmless – or otherwise we wouldn't have them here in class. I guess you'll find them cute as hell, I know I do..." She giggled and took a deep breath. "And now, class, say hello to Mr Hagrid!"

O'Hara opened the classroom's door and let Hagrid in. He had to duck his head when he entered. In front of his chest he held a huge wooden box, covered with a blanket. Something scratched against the wood from the inside and soft yelping noises could be heard.

Hagrid put the box down on the floor in the middle of the blankets. Jugding from the yapping Sirius first thought of Fang's puppies, but even the smallest one of them would have been too big for the box.

"Who wants to uncover the box?" Hagrid asked. More than a dozen hands shot up in the air and the kids shouted: "Me! Me!" The half-giant picked Alexander.

Sirius saw his class mate's eyes grow as big as saucers when he had pulled the blanket away. The children closest to Alex started to "Ooooh" and "Aaaah" at what they could already see. Sirius got up on his knees to look over their heads and then his mouth fell open.

In the box were two puppies – it took Sirius some seconds to figure out that it were only two – a very special kind of puppies indeed. Sirius had never seen a three-headed dog before and now right before his eyes were two of them.

All around him the girls started to call the welps cute and the boys described them as awesome. Hagrid put his right hand into the box – three heads turned towards it and started to lick his fingers – then he held the fawn-coloured pup by the back of its neck and lifted it out of the box. "That's Finn", Hagrid told the class. He grabbed the other puppy, fawn with creamy white spots, and sat it down next to its sibling. "And this is his sister Fiona."

"How old are they?" Lucinda asked. She extended her hand tentatively so Finn could sniff at it. One of his heads, his left one, came closer and licked the back of her hand just as timidly as the girl was, then the puppy's middle head decided that he could lick her hand too.

"Almost five weeks now", Hagrid said. "They can get quite old, fifty years or even more."

Fiona seemed to be more adventurous than her brother. She padded forwards on her huge paws and sniffed Rob's backpack, then two of her heads started to tear at the material with their tiny teeth. "Oh, clever dog!" Rob, who had never even known that creatures like three-headed dogs existed, took his bag by the handle and put it on his chair before he opened it and pulled an already opened plastic bag from it. "She smelled the dog biscuits! Totally forgot that I still have them in here…" He looked at Hagrid. "Is it okay to feed them?"

"Sure, go ahead, lad. But feed all three heads. They get jealous of each other when they're so young." Hagrid pulled some dog biscuits from his own pocket and handed them to some of the children so they could feed Finn.

"Are the two of them the whole litter?" Emily wanted to know.

"Their mom, Fluffy, she gave birth to four lil'ones," Hagrid explained, "but of course I can't take all her kids away from her at the same time, now, can I? So each class gets to see two of'em."

"How come their mom lets you take them away from her?" Baldric asked. "I imagine she doesn't like it that you take her babies."

"Fluffy has known me for several decades and she trusts me that I won't hurt her lil'ones. And then there's another trick to make sure a three-headed dog doesn't harm you when you come to close." Hagrid pulled a wooden flute out of his chest pocket and gave it to Baldric. "Would you like to play a song for us?"

A little embarrassed and with red cheeks Baldric piped a melody that Sirius identified as a song by the Weird Sisters.

Fiona and Finn started to yawn, first one head, then two, then three. Soon the puppies lay on the blankets and rested their heads on the knees of the students surrounding them before they fell asleep.

"The flute does the trick for the puppies, but one would need a more sonorous instrument for a grown three-headed dog", Miss O'Hara explained after Baldric had stopped playing. The puppies slowly opened their eyes, shook their many heads and yawned again, but they were already up on their feet again and padded towards the pupils to be cuddled some more.

0=0=0=0

"They're fantastic!" Baldric practically jumped up and down in the corridor after O'Hara had dismissed the class. They were on their way to Potions with Fletcher. "I definitely want a three-headed dog when I'm older!"

Sirius laughed. "They're dangerous, didn't you listen?"

"I'll practise playing the flute some more and it'll work!" Nothing seemed to temper Baldric's enthusiasm.

"No, you need to learn something bigger, like a harp!"

Baldric frowned. "That's an instrument for girls!"

"But it works!" Sirius answered.

"And how you wanna know that, smart arse?"

"Because a harp worked for my parents and my Uncle Harry." Sirius sounded a bit smug. He loved Harry's story of how Fluffy had almost ripped him, his mom and his dad apart when they had to sneak past her. Well, Sirius guessed that his uncle exaggerated some parts of what had actually happened, just like his Dad boasted about the gigantic chess game, but it was a good story anyhow. It had happened in Harry's and his parents' first year at Hogwarts.

_I wish something like that would happen while I'm in school_, Sirius thought. _A treasure hunt like theirs for the Philosopher's Stone_.

But so far none of the teachers seemed to have an evil wizard growing out of the back of their head.

0=0=0=0

At the swimming pool.

_A white beach, the bright blue ocean in the background. In the middle of the beach, raised a little above sea level, is a swimming pool. Its water is so bright that it almost hurts the eyes. It is daylight, but there seems to be no sun._

_An airbed with a backrest is floating in the pool. It is red and has white polka dots. A slender man lies on it, reading an ancient looking book. He wears sun glasses on his crooked nose, has a short goatee beard and shoulder-length brown hair, pulled up in a ponytail._

_We take a closer look and realise that the man is Albus Dumbeldore at the physical age of 47._

_A radio sits on the sand close to the pool, playing soft jazz._

_Another figure approaches from the far left corner, leaving footprints in the white sand. We see that the man is much younger, he is barefoot and wears a long white bathrobe as if he was about to enjoy the refreshing water of the pool. His long blond hair spills over his back and shoulders._

Gellert: "You look old."

Albus looks up, mildly interested, but doesn't lower the book.

Gellert: "So you're not talking to me?"

Albus: "No. Won't happen."

Gellert: "Ah, so you're still mad at me. Either because I called you old or because of the, well, unfortunate way our relationship ended. Concerning the first, I can tell you that you'll only need to be dead for a little longer till you look as young and sexy as me." He shrugs off his bathrobe and steps out of the pile. We see a perfectly muscular body, strong and flexible, though not tanned. Gellert wears black speedos – and he wears them like they are his bitch.

Albus – accidentally? – lowers his book.

Gellert: "Concerning the second, I by now have come to the conclusion that you were absolutely right to kill me. Someone had to stop me, so powerhungry and mad had I become. I'm sorry that I put you through that."

Albus: "We always knew that only we would be able to stop each other."

Gellert nods, dips a toe into the water, sits down on the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the water.

Albus: "Why are you here?"

The radio: _"We interrupt our program for an update on the case of The Ministry of Magic versus" –_

Gellert switches the radio off with an angry movement of his arm, takes a breath to calm down.

Gellert: "I have some information for you. Well, not specifically for you, but I guess it's important for you and some of your friends."

Albus warily: "Continue."

Gellert: "You probably figured out that my soul is ripped enough to transport me through the different spheres of this world. I also have access to where the most torn and shredded remnants of souls are being kept."

Albus glides down from the airbed and into the water, careful not to get his book wet. The water covers him up to the belly. While Gellert continues to talk he leaves the pool to sit down cross-legged next to Gellert.

Gellert: "After Voldemort's downfall I was curious what had happened to him and I kept looking for rumours if he had even made it to the Netherworld. I was interested in what creating so many Horcruxes had done to his soul, since I had been so close to creating my first one when we last met."

Gellert withdraws his feet from the water and mirros Albus's posture, facing him.

Gellert: "I wouldn't have been surprised if he had been shattered too much to continue existing in any kind of form. After some years I found him." Gellert shivers despite the hot temperature.

Albus: "I take it your… scientific curiousity was satisfied."

Gellert: "More than that. It was a blood-curdeling experience, so horrendous it made me wish I hadn't gone there in the first place." He shivers again.

Albus hands him the bathrobe which Gellert pulls around his shoulders.

Gellert, almost whispering: "On the other hand, if I hadn't been so damned nosey, I would have never found out what he's doing now."

Albus puts his hands on Gellert's shoulders, shakes him. "What are you saying?"

Gellert: "Some days ago one of my sources who had helped me find his remains contacted me. I went to have another look at Voldemort. I found out that he had gathered mass."

Albus frowns. He doesn't like the idea of what he'll hear next.

Gellert: "Albus, he's gathering pieces of souls to repair his own. I don't know what his plans are exactly, but I'm convinced that he's dangerous and must be stopped."

**Hope you like my newest writing experiment. Dramatic dialogues and absurd theatre in my opinion work best for the undead. If you have trouble imagining it, best think of the movie scenes from HP 7.2 when Harry thinks he died and meets Dumbledore. The lighting is always a bit too bright and the people on stage are always a bit too realistic, sometimes even In-your-face like the ugly Voldemort baby corpse.**

**Gellert (of course!) looks like Jamie Campbell Bower. The young Dumbledore looks sort of like Gary Oldman in "The Scarlet Letter". And yes, they were a couple just like JKR said in her interviews.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Quidditch**

The house rules for Quidditch had been changed and the first years were now allowed to try out after they had their first flight lessons and passed a flight security test after one month of Flight classes.

One morning, when Sirius, Lex, Rob and Baldric ran down the stairs to the common room, they spotted several new notes on the notice board. The first one announced the earlier flight test and included a list where the pupils could sign up for it. All other students had time to take the flight security test at the beginning of December before the weather would become too cold for the lessons outside.

Sirius put down his name and then handed his quill to the other three. Baldric was exited, Rob and Lex were a bit more sceptic about passing the test.

The second poster was green with a broom painted above the title: "Slytherin Quidditch Team Try-Out!"

"You'll be there, little cousin, won't you?" Amanda had sneaked up on the four boys and now tried to ruffle Sirius's hair.

He swiftly ducked out of her way. "Who're you calling little, Amy?" Though he was three years younger, he was a good deal taller than her.

"Hey, no disrespecting the team captain!" Amanda grinned and stood on her toes to make herself taller. "What about you, guys? The try-out is next Saturday. We got a lot of free positions since so many players graduated last year."

"We'll have to pass the flight test first", Rob said less optimistic.

"You still got another ten days to train for the test", Amanda tried to cheer him up. "Plus, me and your prefects are going to offer an extra training session for all the first-years who want to do the earlier test. No need to worry."

Not only Amanda and the prefects, but also Professor Krum offered an extra training for those who wanted to take the earlier test.

Though Sirius didn't think that he needed the practise, he and Baldric still went with Rob and Lex to support them.

The extra training with Krum was on Sunday afternoon. Besides the Slytherin first-years the kids from the other Houses filled the Quidditch field. After a while on the field, Sirius sat down with Rose, James, Vicky and Baldric on the stands to watch their friends fly through hoops or practise the security checks on their brooms.

The autumn sun was shining and they had a good time sharing the raisin-and-almond cookies that James had received via owl from his mom.

"What position will you try-out for?" James asked his cousins.

"Keeper!" Rose shouted the same time Sirius blundered out "Seeker!"

"What about you, James?" Sirius added.

"Seeker, of course. Not that there's any pressure in the family or something." James grinned. Both his parents had held the position of the Gryffindor Seeker, though his mom had occasionally played Chaser. Like his father Harry, he was middle-sized and lean, perfectly built for racing on a broom and chasing the Golden Snitch.

"I wanna be a Chaser", Vicky decided. "One Seeker in the family is more than enough."

On the morning of the Flight Security Test Rob and Lex barely touched their breakfasts. Sirius and Baldric dug in as usual.

The students had to take turns while Professor Krum and Professor McGonagall watched them inspect their brooms before take-off, fly slalom, or transport small objects with their brooms.

The pupils who had taken the test had to sit on the stands and wait for the others to finish. All of the testees would learn their results together.

Rob sat next to Sirius, shivering from nervousness and cold, biting his fingernails. "Oh god, did you see me fly into that post? Oh god, I so failed!"

"Your robe touched the post, that's all! You passed, you'll see!" Sirius told his friend. "At least you didn't fall off the broom like Philia." The poor girl had to be brought to the infirmary after she had crashed head-first into an obstacle.

When all students had taken the test, McGonagall and Krum conferred for several minutes. The headmistress then told the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs to come to her, while Krum assembled the Ravenclaws and Slytherins around himself.

All the boys from Sirius's dorm had passed the test successfully.

The try-outs were held separately for each team and visitors from other Houses were not allowed, so the Weasley siblings weren't able to cheer for each other.

The Slytherin try-outs took place at nine in the morning. It was a bit chilly outside because the sun had not much energy yet, but Sirius thought that the cold air helped him to stay focused.

Team captain Amanda announced the order in which the try-outs for the different positions would be held: first the Beaters, then the Chasers, the Keeper and last the Seeker.

Amanda had enchanted additional Bludgers to attack the Beaters, the Chasers had to dodge the Bludgers and score with the Quaffles, the Keepers had to guard the three goal posts and the Seekers had to catch at least three of the five Golden Snitches that Amanda set loose at the same time.

Sirius, who was the first Seeker to try-out, caught four Snitches. The last one he caught had him hanging on to his broom with just one leg, but he got the little bastard. The fifth Snitch made no appearance whatsoever while it was his turn. When he landed on the grass, he had no clue how well he had performed. As it turned out, he had done a better job than his competitors from second and third grade.

Amanda announced that he had made it to the starting team. Lucinda would be one of the reserve Beaters and Vicky one of the reserve Chasers.

In the evening of the same day, Sirius waited in the Entrance Hall for his sister Rose to return from the Gryffindor try-out. Rose beamed at him. The Gryffindors had a strong team already, most of the players being in fifth, sixth or seveth grade. Rose still had managed to become a member of the team as one of the substitute Chasers. James was the new first Seeker for Gryffindor and his adopted brother Teddy stayed on the team as Keeper.

The next Flight lesson with Krum was the last for many of the Slytherin kids. As a celebration for those who passed the early exam, Krum brought special aircrafts out on the Quidditch field: magical carpets.

Enchanted carpets were officially banned from transport in Britain, but they could be used on sports fields.

The class had a lot of fun while all of them, including Krum, tried to tame the carpets. They buckled and attempted to shake of their passengers. Sirius gripped the fringe of his carpet and held onto it. After a while the carpet seemed to get used to him and he could sit on it and fly up between the goal posts.

Professor Krum laughed out loud when he fell off his carpet after trying to "surf" with his two feet standing on a Persian.

Sirius thought about his Halloween costume that he would need in a few days. He had no clue yet. Maybe he should ask Vicky what she would wear, and if she wanted to go with him to the dance in the Great Hall.


	9. Chapter 9

**Eleven years in the past.**

He had to tell the boy.

It was of paramount importance that he could pass all his knowledge, all his dark secrets on to the boy.

_He must know! He must!_

He could feel life running out of him, like water trickling down from a wet sponge, only to be soaked up in his black robes. With every heartbeat more blood was pushed out of his veins.

Severus knew all about the manifold magical qualities of blood; he had studied every book that had ever been written on the subject. He knew that his own magic was seeping out of the deadly bite wound that the Dark Lord's snake had inflicted on him.

The boy knelt down on his side, his friends with him. There was shock and horror in their faces. He had been so sure that they would be relieved to see him die, to see him slain by his own master's cruel hand.

He tried to speak, but merely his lips trembled. No words came out of his mouth. The boy bowed his head down, tried to catch the words.

Severus tried harder, and this time was able to produce a tiny whisper.

The boy understood.

His eyes were locked on Severus' gaze when he took his wand to extract his schoolmaster's memories. With the tip of his wand, he poured them into a phial that one of his friends pressed into his hand.

Severus looked into his eyes. He decided that he wouldn't look at anything else until death washed him away. _He has her eyes, his mother's eyes_. The same green, vivid eyes, just a bit of sadness in the corners.

"Forgive me", he wanted to say, "forgive me, Lily, for all I have done to you. I have sinned against you, and there is nothing I could ever do to atone for all my transgressions."

Lily took his hand and all pain seemed to go away.

He could hear voices, but the words made no sense.

"Professor! Professor…"

_But Lily and I aren't at school_, he wondered. _We're at the playground. It's the summer holidays._

There was this one day when he had stolen a kiss from her.

When his lips no longer touched hers – so warm, so soft – he was sure that she would slap him in the face and would never speak to him again. But if he hadn't kissed her then, he wouldn't have dared it in a thousand years.

Lily's hand was half-raised and Severus waited for the slap that never came. Her bottle-green eyes were furious, sparkling, and Severus' heart thought it would burst.

Lily just turned on her heels and stomped away.

She was so mad at him that she didn't speak with him for an entire week. But still she would come to the playground every afternoon and meet him there in the treehouse where they would read in _Hogwarts, A History_ or _Advanced Potion-Making_. She broke her silence to tell him that he was crazy trying to brew the Animagus Solution.

"It's plain stupid to try and do something illegal, Severus!" she said, and her eyes were sparkling again. "Besides, if you don't brew it correctly, you might kill yourself!"

"I know that I can do everything properly!" Severus answered.

"Yeah, whatever." Lily shrugged. "Are there any biscuits left?"

Severus handed her the small box with the biscuits his grandmother had made. His grandmother that he was forced to live with since –

An icy chill ran down his spine despite the burning-hot weather.

Lily spoke to him again, that was all that mattered.

Only during the bright summer afternoons in the treehouse Severus was happy, only when Lily was with him. She was the first thing that he thought of after he woke up, and the last thing he thought of before he fell asleep. The afternoons with her were the only thing that made him endure one horrible day after the other.

He was only a thirteen-year old boy, but he knew that his life depended on Lily. He would be lost without her, and therefore he could never allow himself to loose her. Even if this meant that he could never kiss her again.

"Professor!"

"Need to help him" –

There were hands on his body, shaking him. Hands without people attached to them.

Lily's green eyes.

The smell of biscuits.

_Please don't leave me!_

The hard planks of the treehouse.

_It's getting dark early today…_

There was pain, but it went away quickly.

There was blinding light, but soon his eyes adjusted to it.

There was disorientation, but then his senses kicked in and he could tell where up and down were.

Instictively he grabbed the chains of the swing on which he was sitting.

He was on the playground from his days as a teenager, only that his feet as a grown-up now touched the soil under the swing.

The swing next to his squeaked and he looked up.

Lily sat on it, her feet dangling above the ground.

She looked exactly as old as the day he had last seen her – expect that she wasn't dead.

Or was she?!

"How – how is this possible?" he blurted out. "Am I dead?"

Lily smiled. "Yes, silly."

"But this is our…" Severus stopped. There was no "our"; there had never been an "our".

"Our playground," Lily completed the sentence for him. "I haven't been here in quite a while."

"This place can't be real."

"But it is, Severus. Don't you smell the grass and the wet sand over there?" Lily pointed at the sand box. "Can't you see our treehouse? Doesn't this feel real?" She briefly put her hand on his lower arm.

"Why are you here?" What Severus meant was: why are you here _with me_?

"Because I asked to be alone with you after you've come over."

"Over to what? I don't understand." A horrible thought formed in his mind. Had Lily asked to see him before he was brought to hell? To purgatory? To eternal damnation?

Had she decided that this would be his ultimate punishment, to see her once more before he would suffer for his crimes eternally?

"I wish to thank you for all the things you did for Harry. That's why I'm here. And because I thought that you might want to see a familiar face over here." Lily smiled sadly. "You would have had every right to hate me after I let you down so badly and took James' side. Instead you protected Harry and sacrificed your life to protect him. You have become a great man, Severus."

Severus stared at the ground. He didn't know what to say.

Lily leaned over and kissed his cheek.

When Severus was younger, he would have turned red and this peck on the cheek would have been everything he dreamed of. He could feel that he still loved Lily, loved her a lot, but now that he was here with her, his kind of love seemed to have changed with the years.

He continued to stare at his feet.

"There are others who want to welcome you." Lily smiled again, and it confused Severus. He couldn't image that there were people who would want to see him. "Are you ready?"

Severus shrugged.

Lily laughed and took his hand, and a door appeared right in front of their eyes.

Lily opened the door and led him through it into a huge white hall that looked like a brighter, shinier, unearthly version of the Great Hall of Hogwarts, only without the house tables. But the floating candles were there, and the tapestries and the marble mosaic floor.

Several people were standing or sitting on the steps of the dais.

The first one who moved was Albus Dumbledore. He looked so much younger than he had in life, but it was unmistakably him.

"Albus!" Severus felt the urge to run towards Dumbledore, but then he came to an immediate halt.

The joy of seeing the headmaster only lasted for brief seconds.

Guilt, unbearable guilt, washed over Severus and brought tears to his eyes, knocked the air out of his lungs, and forced him down on his knees when the older man stood before him.

Severus buried his face in Dumbledore's robes and cried.

History repeated itself, only this time he didn't confess that it was his fault Lily was dead, but begged forgiveness for killing the man who had been more of a father to him than his own.

"Forgive me, forgive me," Severus moaned, feeling unworthy of even kneeling in the dirt before this great man.

"Severus, look at me. Please, look at me." Albus' hand tried to lift Severus' head, and when Severus wouldn't look up, Albus knelt down in front of him.

"It is I who must beg your forgiveness, Severus," Albus said and almost forcefully took Severus' hands in his. "I was the one who asked you to kill me. I asked you to sacrifice so many things because I could not do them myself. I am the one who needs to be forgiven."

He cried on Dumbledore's shoulder until there were no more tears left. Back then, when he had mourned Lily's death, there had been nothing left in him but numbness. The same numbness that had carried him through the rest of his life. Now he actually felt relieved, relieved of all the burdens that had weighed him down, crippled him from the inside.

When Albus and Severus got up, there was a hand that gave a handkerchief to Severus to wipe away his tears.

"James!" Severus' heart jumped in an echo of all the bad feelings that had been between them; and while he was still shocked that he had a heartbeat though he was dead, James started to speak.

"Severus, I don't know how to begin to say how deeply I regret that I've been such an asshole when we were at school. Everything you did for our son… You saved his life. I owe you a lot." James's eyes met Severus's only briefly.

Lily appeared on her husband's side. "Let us know if we can do anything for you. Literally. Just think about us, Severus, and we'll know and come see you."

Severus said "Okay" though he was sceptic that this would really work.

Hand in hand, Lily and James left through the Great Hall's gates.

Another person who had come here to meet him was Sirius Black.

Sirius stepped towards Severus and extended his hand. "Thank you for all the things you did for Harry. If you are willing, I would like to put aside our differences."

Severus hestitated, but then he nodded and took Sirius' hand. What else was there to do? Go on and hate each other? _Makes no effing sense. We're dead…_

"See you soon," Sirius said, smiled politely and left through the same door through which Severus had entered.

Then there was only one more person left. Severus couldn't remember if he had ever met her. She didn't seem familiar.

Albus led the young woman towards Severus, and when she stood before him he realised that she had a strong resemblance to Albus.

"I'd like to introduce you to my sister Ariana," Albus smiled.

Ariana – she couldn't be older than seventeen, eighteen – surprised Severus by hugging him. "I heard so much about you, and I saw you with my brother so often that it almost feels like I know you already. I've been looking forward to meeting you." She grinned.

"H-hallo," Severus stammered.

"Why don't you come live with Albus and me for a few days before you've adjusted to being dead!" Ariana suggested and beamed. "I'll show you everything and I can help you set up your own house! I imagine you would want to have a laboratory for all your potions… and a library perhaps. I know how to get that stuff, just let me work my magic."

Albus had never mentioned his sister, so Severus wondered: "How long have you been dead?"

"Oh, just one hundred years or so." Ariana linked her arm with Severus. "I promise you'll like it."

He loved going on picknicks with Ariana. She knew so many fantastic places and she shared them openly with Severus. She also spent a lot of time introducing him to the mechanics of this world.

Worlds? Spheres?

Severus did not yet know how to call the different places that he had visited with her. But he had quickly picked up on how to imagine himself standing in a meadow or in the kitchen downstairs and then simply appear at that place. Some people like Lily prefered to think of a door that would lead them to their destination, others like Ariana simply thought about where they wanted to be and it happened. Both ways came naturally to Severus. The only thing that he had trouble with was creating food with his mind. Complete meals always tasted a bit off when he conjured them, so most of the time he thought of the ingredients and then cooked whatever he wanted. He enjoyed cooking, it was very similar to potion brewing. Ariana, who never troubled herself with cooking, kept him company while he was cutting vegetables or stirring a sauce, or she went outside to the garden to set up the table for them.

Usually it was only Severus and Ariana who ate together because Albus spent most of his time at a sunny place where nothing but a swimming pool was. He just lay on his air mattress and did nothing but read one book after the other. Severus had tried that for a while, but then given up on it out of sheer boredom.

But he had come to realise that he immensely enjoyed gardening with Ariana. She had a vast knowlegde not only of pretty flowers, but also of herbs and funghi that were used for potions. Hour after hour went by while they lined out herbes, trimmed bushes and cut off dry twigs under the warm sun.

He and Ariana had visited Lily and James two days ago. It was awkward to sit on a sofa in a house that was almost identical to the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow where he had found their bodies, and even more awkward that he had to behave like a grown-up person around James Potter. All they had ever done was fight – and now they had tea and cucumber sandwiches together.

Lily and Ariana had been good friends for quite a while. Because they were friends of her brother Albus, Ariana had helped Lily to come over and to find James who had died minutes before his wife. She had helped both of them to settle into a huge sphere that looked so much like Godric's Hollow.

Severus assumed that Ariana had been the one who had created the Godric's Hollow sphere after she had died. He hadn't yet found out how she had died, only that she had died as a young girl – the topic had never come up, and it didn't feel right to pry.

Ariana was very friendly and showed him many places that she liked or had created for herself. They often had picknicks on a flowery meadow in the mountains. They talked for hours while they sat on some rocks in a little stream nearby and made bets who of them could keep their feet longer in the icy water.

Again they visited the peaceful valley in the mountains.

Again they sat on the rocks and their trousers were rolled up and their feet were dangling in the cold water.

Ariana caught Severus's ankle between her feet and held him there. At the same time she told him how much she liked this place because it was so majestic, beautiful and quiet.

Not once did she bring up the fact that she touched him, well, not really inappropriately, but still very intimitely.

Severus wasn't used to so much closeness, but he liked that she took the initiative. He liked the touch of her warm ankle in the cold water. He wasn't sure yet in which way he liked Ariana exactely, but right now he was very much willing to give them a try.

A few days later, Ariana asked him to meet someone who had come to the Dumbledore siblings' house. Severus nodded absent-mindedly and made sure all the fires under his cauldrons were extinguished or kept under control by containment spells before he followed her downstairs.

When Severus entered the living room, he saw a young brown-haired girl sitting on the sofa. She looked plain with her long braids that fell over her flat bossom. Only her sharp nose drew some attention. Her red-and-white chequered dress looked like a costume from another time, just like her buttoned-up white blouse and her knee-length socks. The girl's hands rested on her lap and her fingers twitched a little as if she was forcing herself not to wring her hands.

"Severus, my boy", the girl said while Severus still wondered who she could be.

All of a sudden a hard knot formed in his stomach and a chill ran over this body. This voice, the mild accent – there was only one person who spoke like that.

"Grandmother", Severus heard his own rasping voice. He _knew_ that the dead were able to choose their own age and looks, but still he was unable to grasp what his eyes saw on the opposite site of the coffee table.

The girl nodded and bit her lower lip self-consciously.

_This can't be. She's never been self-conscious about anything. All she's ever been was cold and inapproachable. This isn't her, can't be her!_

Severus felt Ariana's finger slip into his. Or was he the one who had sought the touch of her hand? He wasn't sure.

"Severus, I…" the girl – his _grandmother_ – made another attempt to speak to him.

_I don't want to hear what she has to say, I don't want to be here! Shut up, just shut up!_

Severus forced himself to utter the words: "Say what you have to say."

The girl told him that she whished that she had been able to see how miserable his childhood had been. That she wished that she had believed him. That she hadn't called him an ungrateful little liar when he told her what had happened. That she wished that she hadn't been too blind to see that her own son beat his wife and his child.

_Shut up, shut up, you evil old hag!_

Severus tried to listen, tried to stay in the here and now, tried to concentrate as hard as he could on Ariana's warm touch.

_How dare you tell me that you regret what you did? How dare you lie to me like that?! How can you say you're sorry –_

The anger became overwhelming, became stronger and stronger until Severus's long buried hatred boiled over.

"SHUT UP!"

The words lingered in the room.

Severus slowly became aware that he had jumped up on his feet.

The girl stared down on her lap, her head hanging and her shoulders pulled up as if she expected to be slapped. "I'm sorry that I upset you so much by coming to see you", she said faintly. "I- I just came to apologise. I'll leave you alone, I promise. You won't hear from me again." Her eyes flickered up, searching for his face, then she got up and hurried out of the room almost in a run.

Severus sank down on the couch and remained there motionless while Ariana showed his grandmother out. His hands were curled up into hard fists. He was afraid that if he tried to unclench them, his fingers would shake. He didn't want Ariana to see him like this.

But Ariana came back, no matter how hard he wished that she wouldn't, and sat down at his side. "Are you okay?" she asked and gently rubbed his back.

Severus didn't move, couldn't speak.

Before today, everything had been fine. It had felt so good to be finally welcome somewhere. He had literally left everything behind that had haunted him in life. He hadn't thought about anything bad for weeks.

He was shocked that he hadn't even thought about what had happened with Harry and Voldemort after his death. Suddenly, panic flooded his body.

_What happened? What happened, I need to know –_

_Harry can't be dead, right? He would have appeared here, he would be with Lily and James if he had been killed!_

"Severus! Severus, look at me!"

Severus flinched when he realised that Ariana held his face between her hands. "You're shaking", she whispered.

A sob forced its way out of his chest.

Ariana simply closed her arms around his body and pulled his head against her shoulder.

Severus couldn't tell why he was crying exactly. Shock because his grandmother had visited? Relief because Harry and all those other students of Hogwarts were still alive? That his death had not been useless? Because of the realisation that, yes, he _was_ dead?

Ariana kept stroking his back until he stopped trembling. It was very soothing to be hugged by someone who really wanted to hug him.

Nervousness was added to the chaos of Severus' feelings when he thought that Ariana would surely notice that his heart was racing so fast because _she_ touched him.

"You-know-who isn't able to come here", Ariana assured him, her breath warm on his cheek.

_That stuff about Harry and Hogwarts… Did I say that out loud?_ Severus wondered.

Ariana continued: "Those who killed so many people like him, they are torn apart and kept somewhere else. _He_ can never come here."

Something between them changed and Severus now had the strong feeling that Ariana was the one who needed the hug more than he.

Ariana whispered: "I wouldn't want _him_ to appear here either."

Severus didn't dare to ask who _he_ was.

What do you think about our trip to the past? Let me know!

For the next chapter we will return to Sirius for Hallowe'en.


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